For delivery of practice-based degrees in performing arts, universities often seek to employ lecturers with a strong professional profile which is considered to add value to the student experience. The transition from performing arts to academia is a major event in the development of social identity and this study was designed both to explore the social identities of staff who have transitioned from performing arts careers to academic roles in higher education and to examine key influences on their process of social identity categorisation.
The study involved in-depth narrative interviews to explore participants’ social identity in both the performing arts and higher education with insights drawn over the course of participants’ lives. A range of potential patterns were identified in the participants’ narratives with regards to the construction of their social identities in career transition. The findings were evaluated and a set of recommendations made for stakeholders.
Key findings emerged regarding the value of formal and informal socialisation in career transition and a variation in perceptions of prototypical academic identities. Examples of social creativity by participants was observed, along with examples of social mobility and competition. The key finding in relation to social identity theory was that participants were observed to have a high salience in their performing arts social identity and broad patterns of layered multiple social identities were observed.